Edgeworth Laboratory for the Mathematical Sciences of Psychometrics and Measurement

What is the Edgeworth Laboratory about?

The Edgeworth Laboratory was created in 1990 while I was a professor in the Measurement & Evaluation Program at the University of Ottawa. Reading the history of our discipline struck me as it has a long and vital history of establishing ‘laboratories’ in the behavioural and educational sciences. An earlier form of this laboratory existed at the University of Ottawa under the title Edumetrics Research Group. The laboratory moved with me to the University of Northern British Columbia in December of 1994, where I was a Professor of Mathematics and Psychology, and then again with me in the summer of 2000 to The University of British Columbia. The laboratory primarily exists in cyberspace, although it presently occupies most of my office and a laboratory at The University of British Columbia.

Since 1990, the laboratory has been named in honour of Professor F. Y. Edgeworth for his foundational work and scholarship in applying mathematics and mathematical principles to the behavioural sciences. As noted by the historian of science and statistician, Professor S. Stigler, Professor Edgeworth “… was one of the foremost economic theorists of his time, is also a possible claimant to the title the father of Educational Statistics (Stigler, 1992, p. 66).

Stigler, S. M. (1992). A historical view of statistical concepts in Psychology and Educational Research. American Journal of Education, 101, 60-70. 

Educational and behavioural statistics are closely aligned, and many work in both fields. One of the leading journals is the Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics, which the American Statistical Association and the American Educational Research Association jointly publish. This is a brief biographical sketch of Professor Edgeworth from the MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive in St. Andrews, Scotland.

The foci of the Edgeworth Lab are several cross-disciplinary recurring topics in psychometrics and statistical methods, such as (i) validity theory and validation practices, (ii) measurement invariance and item bias, (iii) studies of the robustness of statistical and psychometric methods to violations of their assumptions, and (iv) the development of nonparametric, Bayesian, and adaptive alternatives. The main themes in his primary core research program are:

• Mathematical science: formulating mental test theory as an abstract mathematical model, using concepts in measure theory, probability theory, and functional analysis
• Geometry of multivariate statistics and psychometrics; Bayesian analysis; mixed & latent variable models; item response theory (IRT); generalizability theory (G-theory); classical test theory (CTT)

Professional contributions reflect a pragmatic and eclectic attitude to methodological matters, leading to advances in international assessment and surveys, language testing, and the methodology of quality of life and well-being, health, and human development. These more discipline-specific advances ultimately feed his primary core research program.

Grants, Contracts, & Commissions

Total in Grant Money, Principal or Co-Investigator, since 2000 at UBC: $9.9 Million 

Recent highlights: Canada Research Chairs Program [Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, SSHRC] $2.8 million for a Tier 1 CRC 2020-2027; UBC-Paragon Research Agreement 2015-2024, $3.3 million

Primary Agencies:  Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR), Canadian Forces Department of National Defence (CF  DND), B.C. Medical Health Services, Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research.